Yes, the first chip hurts, however paint chips on bikes. Now if Cannondale come back and tell you to get stuffed I would think you have grounds to be upset.

Be thankful you haven't got some kind of Italian frame from a small builder which will need to be sent back and exchange could take months.

The shop did all they could and offered you a replacement of something they had in stock, good by them. They can't replace something with something they don't have. If I were them I would file the dropouts, it would be a 5 minute job.

You will most likely get a new frame and the shop will have to unbuild and rebuild this for you free of charge.

Nothing like giving them time to put things right before throwing a hissy fit online is there? Now if they baulked at replacing the frame I'd understand your rage. Things like this can happen, it's not the massive QC problem you think it is.

I'm surprised the shop didn't initiate the request for a replacement immediately, instead of waiting until Friday. That is sloppy.

Today is being the 5th day, and when i asked for their reply, i got nothing. I think they should have responded already. How much time do you think, should i wait just for a single reply?I am the aggrieved customer there, and i don't have to wait for their procrastination, if they are really doing. Please keep in mind that, i even can't ride my brandnew bike because of that defect.

Shop kindly requested a replacement, but they've only had one 2012 black/green color evo in stock. I thanked them, but didn't accept it.I paid for a 2013 model bike, and don't want to change my color theme.

bmxbandit wrote:

As Ultimobici says you shouldn't be mad at 'dale so much as the shop, things can slip through qc at the factory, thats why they need to be thoroughly prepped at your dealer. They really should have picked up on this before handing the bike over. I would also add that a good shop mechanic should be capable of determining if it is a dropout or frame alignment issue....

Yes you are right maybe, but the main factor which makes me angry is lacking a single reply, after the following days. Today my bike shop already did their best for me, by kindly requesting a replacement without a doubt.And it may not matter, if it is a dropout or frame alignment issue.. As i know, there is no chance to modify the all-carbon dropouts.Anyway, thanks for your replies.

I work in retail sales now for one brand and have dealt with warranty issues with Trek, Specialized & Cannondale in the past.

If one of our customer had an issue with a frame from any of these manufacturers, the routine was simple. Where the frame looks like that we'd be on the phone to the distributor/manufacturer the day we were made aware. Not necessarily to replace the frame, because very often it's a paint issue or there's excess carbon that hasn't been filed before painting. It also affords the distributor a little time to find a replacement. With Cannondale it is a little different to most larger brands as their production is effectively pre-sold due to the way they make their dealers commit to pre-orders. Don't know if this is the case in the US/Canada but Europe was this way until 2011 at lease. Spec & Trek estimate their needs and have stock in the hope of selling it all so it is less of an issue at this time of the season.

That said, how did the bike even get to be ridden? It is not OK to clamp the wheel straight ever in vertical dropouts, especially carbon ones.

As for the 5 days, two of them were the weekend, so chill out a little. Also, judging by the shop's sloppiness, how do you know they have contacted Cannondale in the correct way?

Shop should have caught this long before it got to you, no doubt. Testing for whether the wheel or the frame is at fault takes 5 seconds - by mounting the rear wheel backwards and seeing if the clearance problem is on the same side or opposite side. When I email my Cannondale rep with a warranty claim, I attach pics of the problem and serial number (and proof of purchase) and I get an RA# in about an hour, weekends exempted of course. I get in stock color options, and when one is chosen, I get the frame in a day, maybe two. Maybe I just have a rep that is very on top of things (actually I know I do), but Cannondale has been the quickest and easiest company for me when it comes to warranty stuff.Any bike company can have a small detail slip through QC. Maybe your jaw would drop if you knew the stuff we've seen from EVERY bike brand.

Am I the only one here who thinks this guy is being a drama queen?Yes, the first chip hurts, however paint chips on bikes. Now if Cannondale come back and tell you to get stuffed I would think you have grounds to be upset.The shop did all they could and offered you a replacement of something they had in stock, good by them. They can't replace something with something they don't have. If I were them I would file the dropouts, it would be a 5 minute job. You will most likely get a new frame and the shop will have to unbuild and rebuild this for you free of charge. Cool your jets.

If Cannondale would behave as you wish above, i wouldn't loose anything other than some cash.But they'd loose much more important things than the money.If they are leaving this defective frame out of their factory, they have to listen and respect my advices.Nothing wrong there.

And can you really see that the problem is in the dropouts there? Just by looking at 4-5 photos above? If somebody would attemp to file my brandnew frame's carbon dropouts without asking, i'd kill him.It would take less than a 5 min job!

Valbrona wrote:

SIMPLE FACT: The frame is defective and should unhesitatingly be replaced free of charge. Cannondale will then go back to whatever factory in China/Taiwan made the frame to seek replacement. The frame should never have left the factory like this.

"The frame should never have left the factory like this"Your sentence summarizes my topic. Thank you.

Shop should have caught this long before it got to you, no doubt. Testing for whether the wheel or the frame is at fault takes 5 seconds - by mounting the rear wheel backwards and seeing if the clearance problem is on the same side or opposite side. When I email my Cannondale rep with a warranty claim, I attach pics of the problem and serial number (and proof of purchase) and I get an RA# in about an hour, weekends exempted of course. I get in stock color options, and when one is chosen, I get the frame in a day, maybe two. Maybe I just have a rep that is very on top of things (actually I know I do), but Cannondale has been the quickest and easiest company for me when it comes to warranty stuff.Any bike company can have a small detail slip through QC. Maybe your jaw would drop if you knew the stuff we've seen from EVERY bike brand.Judging from the information given, your shop is inadequate.

I have one more Cannondale other than this, a Superx cyclocross bike. I've also experienced a guarantee replacement of it's fork. It was damaged and replaced!They've quickly sent me a new one, without waiting. That's what you expect, when buying an expensive, premium brand.

In this case, the difference is there is no damage after riding the bike. The problem is, a brandnew bike cannot be ridden becuase of a defective, faulty frame, which should never left the factory like that. That's different.

some cases like these or concerning others problems have been reported on french forums, more often for an Evo 2013 supposedly made in China and not Taiwan as before.It seems that frames are replaced with no problem and quite fast .

I don't know how many Evo where sold in France (I don't see one often on the road) but I think there is definitely a quality control issue.

Yes you're right... the frame should have never left the factory like that, but it did. More importantly it should have NEVER left your shop like that. Either the builder is sloppy, incompetent or they're extremely lazy. Coming out of a factory that produces hundreds if not thousands of frames a day sometimes things slip through but it is on the shop building the bike to pay attention to things like this to make sure it never gets in the customers hands with a defect like this. This is a no questions asked warranty issue that Cannondale would have dealt with immediately. Unless you're outside of the US which you may be I've never heard of a 5 day delay to get a warranty processed. My guess is your shop is dragging their feet. If it was a problem with the sales rep, they shouldn't be dealing with the rep to begin with. This should go directly to the warranty department at Cannondale and would be dealt with ASAP if done so. Get on your shop because I'm guessing that Cannondale is not the issue.

Unless there is some Holiday at Cannondale, your shop sounds like its is dragging its feet for some reason or not organized enough. I can see not having a new frame by now, but your shop should have been able to contact Cannondale by now.

It sounds like their rep is bad and/or the LBS is not aggresive enough.

Because if the rep is good they would have had contact, and if their rep is bad THEY SHOULD HAVE GONE OVER HIS/HER HEAD, BY NOW.

You may need to go to the LBS and say "have you been able to contact Cannodale and speak with someone"......if they say no:----you need to ask for your $$$$ back (light a fire under them)

if they say yes: ----you ask "WHAT IS GOING ON THEN" (light a fire under them)

Most likely they have contacted Cannondale and they are trying get you a replacement frame so when they talk to you they can say "We talked to Cannondale and they have a frame on it's way"Which means just poor communication.....no LBS is guilty of that

I had a frame replaced on warranty (not Cannondale) as the rear dropouts were misaligned and you could not even see it. The only reason I knew was that it screwed up the bearings in my Powertap, which are sensitive to poor alignment.

Any good bike shop will have a dropout alignment check tool (here's one http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-hel ... ment-ffg-2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; obviously don't go trying to adjust a carbon frame!). You need to check the dropouts in all the planes, not just the left-right (e.g. alignment of dropouts relative to each other for up/down, left/right and concentricity/tilt). My new frame happens to be close to perfect in all planes, the old one was way out.

Filing paint off may only correct part of a wider problem. I was alarmed to learn how far out of alignment a lot of top end 'quality' frames can be, from some of the major manufacturers.

You're lucky that you do not own a Mercedes or BMW. I have been called into the office for telling customers of issues that they had. There is one Mclaren SLR that had black interior with black stitching, except for the right interior door handle that had red stitching. I was told to not mention in during the Pre Delivery Inspection. Great service/company for a $500,000 car.

The bad thing is that the customer still does not know and it has been 4 years now.

Last edited by Butcher on Sat Apr 13, 2013 1:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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